Sugar Grove voters to ponder electrical costs

Sugar Grove residents will decide in April whether to let the village negotiate the cost of electricity for them.

The village board Tuesday voted to put a referendum question on the ballot asking for the authority to arrange for the supply of electricity for customers who have not opted out of such a program.

Its neighbor to the north, Elburn, will also have such a referendum in April.

“Nobody really knows what the prices will be,” Sugar Grove President Sean Michels said.

If a less expensive supplier than ComEd can be found, he is all for it. “Any amount of savings these days is good,” he said.

The Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Cooperative suggested the referendum. NIMEC negotiates electricity purchases for its 140 members to run their facilities and obtains volume discounts.

Illinois deregulated electrical power purchases in 1996, and about 75 percent of the commercial load is now bought from suppliers other than ComEd and Ameren, according to NIMEC. But not many residential customers have changed suppliers, because until 2009 the customer had to pursue the change, or “opt in.” Suppliers didn't pursue individual accounts, finding them not worth the cost to set up residential billing systems and marketing the plan, according a NIMEC spokesman. The “opt out” system would mean all Sugar Grove residential and small commercial customers would get electricity from whatever company the village chooses. If they want to use a different supplier, the customers could then opt out.

NIMEC would help the village get bids for electricity, and analyze the bids to compare costs. The electricity would still travel over ComEd transmission lines, and that utility would still be the one responsible for fixing service outages.